Raj govt will lay 20,000-km roads on PPP mode: PWD minister

Jaipur: Rajasthan government will lay 20,000-km road involving an investment of Rs 70,000 crore in the state on PPP (Public-Private Partnership) mode in the next five years, Public Works Department Minister Yunus Khan on Friday said.

In Phase-I, proposals for development of 8,910-km state highways (SHs) and Major District Roads (MDRs) have been finalised in consultation with the Planning Commission to be built on PPP mode with 29 packages (investors), Khan told a special meeting after inaugurating a PPP Division office here.

For proper planning, monitoring and execution of these works a dedicated PPP division has been created with 34 senior engineers and officers, he said.

After enforcement of the Rajasthan State Highway Bill 2014,this division will be merged with Rajasthan State Highway Authority created under provision of the bill, he said.

Khan clarified that there was no reason to be wary of toll tax on national and state highways as the roads built on PPP model needed recurring maintenance and better facilities on highways for which only nine per cent vehicle owners out of 1.20 crore vehicles registered in Rajasthan will be levied.

Rajasthan will emerge as a model state in the country for building roads on PPP mode, he claimed.

The PWD will also undertake road constructions in over 3,000 villages under "Gaurav Gram Path" yojna on PPP mode, he said, adding the tender would be floated early next month.

In another major drive, the minister said repair of damaged roads due to recent rainfall would be undertaken from October 1. About 48,000-km road networks would be repaired at a cost of Rs 600 to Rs 1,000 crore by early next year.

The PWD was working on the 163-km stretch of Jaipur-Delhi National Highway, and it would be completed by March 2015.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, PWD Principal Secretary D B Gupta said of 1.95 lakh kms of roads, PWD was maintaining about 1.25 lakh kms in cities, and on the state highways.

About 70 private investors have approached the department to work on PPP mode for road construction so far, Gupta said.

PWD Minister Khan and Australian High Commissioner in Delhi Patrick Suckling held a meeting in which the High Commissioner apprised his country's interest in road construction on PPP mode, Gupta said.